Berwick boss Paul Smith was in a buoyant mood after watching his side crush Stranraer in the Border derby at Shielfield Park.

"That was a real morale-booster," said Smith.

"It has certainly helped lift the spirits of the players, although their confidence generally has been pretty good despite some disappointing results."

The Borderers boss revealed his half-time pep talk had done the trick.

"I had some pretty choice words to say to them in the dressing room and it certainly did the trick because they came out with a totally different attitude," he said.

The win may have eased the relegation fears of the Berwick fans, but Smith knows it is still going to be tough.

"It is pretty tight in this league and really any two from five could go down.

"We now face three games in a row away from home in the next fortnight starting at Clydebank on Wednesday, but we will be going into these matches in the right frame of mind and with a very positive attitude."

Smith also had a word of comfort for Anton Smith, who has joined Berwick on loan from Hearts until the end of the season but had the misfortune of guiding a free-kick into his own net on his debut.

"I thought overall he had a fairly solid start and I hope he will now go on and build from that," stressed the manager.

The game burst into life after 68 minutes. Gary Wood, who was back in his more familiar role in the attack, got the show on the road swivelling in the box to sweep home a cross from David Murie.

Two minutes later he was on target again with a fine curling shot.

Murray McDowell stabbed home a third on 71 minutes only six minutes after taking over as a substitute, and after Smith's own goal he made sure there was no Stranraer fight-back, driving home a tremendous 30-yard shot which flew past the keeper.